The Loveland girl became critically injured in a crash — together with her kids — during a police chase through Larimer County in 2017, issuing the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office for alleged negligence.
Tara Hildebrand-Schell rode her children to school at 8foM. March 31, 2017, whilst Adam Fulford crashed a stolen Toyota Prius into the family’s Subaru at the intersection of Eisenhower Boulevard and Wilson Avenue.
Hildebrand-Schell’s lawsuit alleges the deputies pursuing Fulford — Spencer Colby and Ted Wilson — acted negligently after they decided to continue pursuing Fulford at excessive speeds on rain-slicked roads in the course of the morning rush hour.
Hildebrand-Schell filed the lawsuit on March 26, 5 days shy of the two-12 months anniversary of the crash that she says left her and her children with lifelong physical and mental injuries.
Fulford has been on the run you considering that about 7 p.m. The night earlier than the crash, when Fort Collins police attempted to arrest him on a felony warrant. In the more than 12-hour-long chase for Fulford, investigators say he stole a taxi, shot the driving force inside the leg, and fled into the foothills close to Horsetooth Reservoir. Fulford spent the night in the Horsetooth vicinity and then stole a Prius at gunpoint the subsequent morning.
Colby replied to the vicinity of the pronounced car theft. However, when he attempted to tug Fulford over, Fulford fled.
The lawsuit alleges Colby and Fulford reached speeds exceeding a hundred mph throughout the pursuit. When Wilson joined the pursuit, he reportedly reached speeds exceeding eighty mph.
Approximately 8 minutes into the pursuit, Fulford collided with Hildebrand-Schell’s Subaru, causing the Subaru to fly into the air and land in a fuel station parking zone near the busy Loveland intersection.
Colby and Wilson ignored the sheriff’s office policy once they “valued possible apprehension of Adam Fulford to be more than the lives and safety of the general public,” Hildebrand-Schell’s lawsuit alleges.
In a courtroom submission from the county’s legal representative representing the sheriff’s office, the defense argues that Fulford turned into the birthday celebration by engaging in numerous criminal acts before the pursuit, failing to prevent deputies, ignoring visitors’ legal guidelines, and using their emergency lights.
In November 2017, Fulford was sentenced to 35 years in jail after pleading guilty to seven felonies: aggravated robbery counts of first-degree attack, motor vehicle robbery, 2d-degree burglary, vehicular eluding, and ownership of a dangerous weapon. Unfortunately, the Larimer County district attorney brushed off dozens of different felony and misdemeanor charges against Fulford.
The county’s legal professional additionally filed a motion to disregard April 17, alleging the statute of limitations expired one year after the crash. The movement also argues tthat he deputies are immune from any harm declared because state regulation allows law enforcement to violate certain visitors’ laws if they are pursuing a suspected or actual law violator.
The crash left Hildebrand-Schell with significant bodily injuries to her head, pelvis, chest, and left wrist. Her daughter, who was in the front passenger’s seat, suffered injuries to her head, neck, lungs, pelvis, and left wrist, as well, the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, Hildebrand-Schell’s son, who was in the returned seat, suffered wrist damage, but the crash also took an emotional toll on him. In a previous interview with the Coloradoan, he said he recalls the crash in sluggish motion.
